Negative Uses of Medical Marijuana

❶In order to make the controversy clear, the opposite arguments are also presented. Tatiana Shohov offers a very thorough background on the historical events regarding the use of medical marijuana.

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Already have an account? In this paper I will discuss the history of marijuana, the industrial uses of hemp, the prohibition of marijuana, the economical impact prohibition has on America, the effects of marijuana use on the mind and the body, marijuana for medical use, and how legalization of marijuana would have a positive influence on America.

Although I support the legalization of marijuana I do not support the legalization of other Schedule I drugs, FN1 therefore this paper is not about the legalization of all drugs.

Marijuana, as most people commonly know it, is really a plant called hemp, or "cannabis sativa. The cannabis plant also produces three very important products that other plants do not in usable form: The cannabis sativa plant grows as weed and cultivated plant all over the world in a variety of climates and soils. Marijuana has been used throughout history; in B. This time line goes on and on right through today. It is thought that hemp was first brought to the New World in by the Spanish; it was introduced in Jamestown by the English in where it became a major commercial crop alongside tobacco and was grown as a source of fiber.

Our forefathers grew hemp; in fact it was the principal crop at Mount Vernon and it was a secondary crop at Monticello. There are recorded notes made by George Washington regarding the cultivation and harvesting of hemp. These hemp crops, of course, were grown for industrial use only and there is no indication that our forefathers were using their crops recreationally!

Today the hemp grown for industrial purposes have extremely low levels of THC Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol delta 9-THC , the active component in cannabis therefore it is impossible to get high from such hemp grown for industrial use. During the Colonial Era Americans were legally bound to grow hemp.

During the Second World War the federal government subsidized hemp and US farmers grew about a million acres of hemp as part of that program. Hemp is extraordinary in its diversity. There are over 25, different uses for the hemp plant!

Almost any product that can be made from wood, cotton, or petroleum including plastics can be made from hemp. FN6 In fact, hemp plastics are biodegradable!! Besides its diversity, the practicality of utilizing hemp to its fullest potential is clear. It should be noted that the selling hemp products are not illegal and in fact the U.

Interestingly, the congressional hearings on marijuana prohibition lasted all of two hours in direct contract to most congressional hearings on new laws which last for days and days. There were exactly three bodies of testimonies testifying at these hearings. The first was Commissioner Harry Anslinger, the newly named commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics who happened to be appointed by his uncle-in-law, Andrew Mellon, who was the Secretary of the United States Treasury.

Not surprisingly he was working from a text which he had not written himself but which had been written for him by a New Orleans District Attorney. Reading directly from this text Commissioner Anslinger told the Congressmen at the hearings, "Marihuana is an addictive drug which produces in its users insanity, criminality, and death.

The second body of testimony to testify at this congressional hearing were industrial spokesmen. The first of these spokesmen was, believe it or not, a man representing the rope industry. This industry representative testified that it was cheaper to import from the Far East the hemp needed to make ropes and therefore the United States no longer needed to grow any more hemp to make rope. Interestingly, five years later, in , the United States was cut off from its sources of hemp in the Far East and, since we needed a lot of hemp to outfit our ships with rope for World War II, the Federal Government went into the business of growing hemp on gigantic farms throughout the Midwest and the South.

The only industrial spokesperson who objected to the Marihuana Tax Act at all was the birdseed representative who sung the praises of hemp seeds for the birds coats. Based on this objection the birdseed industry got an exemption from the Marihuana Tax Act for "denatured seeds. The third body of testimony were two representatives of the medical field. The first testimony came from a pharmacologist who claimed that he had injected the active ingredient in marihuana into the brains of dogs, two of which died.

When asked by the Congressmen if he choose dogs for the similarity of their reactions to that of humans the answer of the pharmacologist was, "I wouldn't know, I am not a dog psychologist. The second testimony on behalf of the medical field came from the Chief Counsel to the American Medical Association, Dr.

Woodward was the hearing to testify at the request of the American Medical Association. His exact quote to the congressmen was, "The American Medical Association knows of no evidence that marihuana is a dangerous drug. The act did not itself criminalize the possession or usage of marijuana but instead levied a tax of approximately one dollar on anyone who dealt commercially in marijuana.

The intended result and indeed, the result of the Marihuana Tax Act was to effectively make it too risky for anyone to deal in the substance. During the war years the Bureau chose to concentrate on opiates and abandoned responsibility for most marijuana law enforcement to the states. In the post-war years, however, there was found to be a significant increase in narcotic drug abuse and the public began to be concerned with the spread of narcotic addiction, particularly among young persons.

Congressional furor was aroused by the assertion that the use of marihuana inevitably led to the use of these harder drugs, particularly heroin. It was at this time, for the first time in federal drug legislation, that marijuana and the narcotic drugs were lumped together, since the Act provided uniform penalties for the Narcotic Drugs Import and Export Act Boggs Act, ibid.

The states followed the federal lead. Then, in , Congress passed the Narcotic Control Act, escalating the penalties still further. Once again the individual states followed suit. The current Controlled Substances Act CSA , Title II of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of is a consolidation of numerous previous laws regulating the manufacture and distribution of narcotics, stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, anabolic steroids, and chemicals used in the illicit production of controlled substances.

The CSA places all substances that are regulated under existing federal law into one of five schedules. This placement is based upon the substance's medicinal value, harmfulness, and potential for abuse or addiction. Schedule I is reserved for the most dangerous drugs that have no recognized medical use, and, of course, is the current classification of marijuana.

Just one year's savings would cover the full cost of anti-terrorism port security measures required by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of A further comprehensive study which reports and analyzes national arrest data between and is, "Crimes of Indiscretion: This report includes a detailed examination of the fiscal costs associated with the enforcement of marijuana laws at the state and county level.

FN22 The findings include but are not limited to the following: However, these increased arrest rates have not been associated with a reduction in marijuana use, reduced marijuana availability, a reduction in the number of new marijuana users, reduced treatment admissions, reduced emergency room mentions of marijuana, any reduction in marijuana potency, or any increases in the price of marijuana.

Decriminalization saves a tremendous amount in enforcement costs. Any discussion of marijuana should begin with the fact that there have been numerous official reports and studies, every one of which has concluded that marijuana poses no great risk to society and should not be criminalized.

There are many conflicting views on how marijuana affects the mind and body. That in itself speaks volumes. It is also interesting to note that, to the best of anyone's knowledge, not one person has ever died from a marijuana overdose. That most definitely cannot be said of alcohol.

The La Guardia Report is a treasure trove of information regarding the affects of marijuana on a person sociologically, medically, psychologically and pharmacologically. LaGuardia appointed a special committee to make a thorough sociological and scientific investigation upon the advice of The New York Academy of Medicine. This study is viewed by many experts as the best study of any drug viewed in its social, medical, and legal context.

The committee covered thousands of years of the history of marijuana. In , a Congressionally created commission called the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, whose members were appointed by then-President Richard Nixon, completed one of the most comprehensive reviews ever undertaken regarding marijuana and public policy.

A Signal of Misunderstanding," proclaimed that "from what is now known about the effects of marihuana, its use at the present level does not constitute a major threat to public health," and recommended Congress and state legislatures decriminalize the use and casual distribution of marijuana for personal use.

Another important study was conducted by Dr. Donald Tashkin of the University of California at Los Angeles, a pulmonologist who has studied marijuana for 30 years. This recent study, the largest of its kind, unexpectedly concluded that smoking marijuana, even regularly and heavily, does not lead to lung cancer. Tashkin indicated that the findings "were against our expectations We hypothesized that there would be a positive association between marijuana use and lung cancer, and that the association would be more positive with heavier use What we found instead was no association at all, and even a suggestion of some protective effect.

Although I could go on and on quoting different studies done by well-respected doctors, government appointed committees, etc. In any which way, the effects most definitely do not warrant total prohibition. California's Proposition was the first statewide medical marijuana voter initiative adopted in the USA. A To ensure that seriously ill Californians have the right to obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes where that medical use is deemed appropriate and has been recommended by a physician who has determined that the person's health would benefit from the use of marijuana in the treatment of cancer, anorexia, AIDS, chronic pain, spasticity, glaucoma, arthritis, migraine, or any other illness for which marijuana provides relief.

B To ensure that patients and their primary care givers who obtain and use marijuana for medical purposes upon the recommendation of a physician are not subject to criminal prosecution or sanction. C To encourage the federal and state governments to implement a plan to provide for the safe and affordable distribution of marijuana to all patients in medical need of marijuana.

Further, Senate Bill which passed on September 20, , was signed by the Governor on October 13, , and which became effective on January 1, , added an Article 2.

Among other things, Article 2. Public opinion on the medical value of marijuana has been sharply divided. In order to make the controversy clear, the opposite arguments are also presented. The first and the foremost reason to make use of Marijuana legal is that no good reason exist that can provide support for not making use of the drug legal.

The philosophical point provides evidence that the individuals as free members of the society have the right to make choices for themselves. A number of drugs such as Alcohol and tobacco are legal despite the fact that their use of more dangerous as compared to the use of Marijuana.

In each day, about people suffered from the illnesses expanding out of smoking. Trebach, So, in the light of this argument people have the right to decide that whether they should make a use of Marijuana or not. Secondly, the legalization of Marijuana can help the government save a large amount of money. In the United States, all the governmental level in some way made their contribution towards the war on drugs. A number for peaceful people are locked up in prison, and the tax payers have to make a payment of their bills, because a number of costs are associated with locking up the people in jails.

Thus, it provides evidence that if the drug remains illegal, it could be an

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In this paper I will discuss the history of marijuana, the industrial uses of hemp, the prohibition of marijuana, the economical impact prohibition has on America, the effects of marijuana use on the mind and the body, marijuana for medical use, and how legalization of marijuana would have a positive influence on America.

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Jun 09, · Because of the recent focus on marijuana legalization, many people are looking back to why cannabis was criminalized in the first place. Contrary to popular belief, the reason marijuana was made illegal had nothing to do with health moiprods.tks: 2. In the paper Prohibition Works the author discusses numerous reasons marijuana should be kept illegal, and the second paper Legalization of Marijuana the author makes many valid points on why marijuana should be legalized for medical use.

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Legalizing Marijuana Essay Example Research Paper on Legalizing Marijuana. Nowadays medical and cultural aspects united with each other due to heated discussions dedicated to the use of medical marijuana. Argumentative essay: Legalization of marijuana Argumentative essay: Legalization of marijuana Introduction Cannabis sativa is a drug that is most commonly known by people with the name of Marijuana.